posted 05-11-2003 10:23 AM               

I visited Autographica yesterday,I went to the Al Worden lecture which I found fascinating.
I went through to the signing and had my Nick Proach CSM model signed by Al together with a Apollo 15 mission shot.
manged to get a photograph with Al, and my wife...Al held our little girl who is only two and we got a couple of excellent photographs for us to treasure...
I think Al Worden was a brilliant addition to the show...and he is great guy. It was great meeting him, thanks also to Al Hallonquist for all his help too.
Bit dissappointed didnt see anyone from Collectspace...
All in all a great day...all astronauts and cosmonauts friendly and helpful...Yuri Usachev was intersting to chat to..enjoyed meeting Paul Weitz., Ed Gibson is most pleasant...nice to get the chance to meet them all !!!

posted 05-11-2003 01:37 PM               

I`m sorry I missed you..we were constantly on the lookout for Collectspace shirts..but did not see anyone..there will be other times.
I`m glad you enjoyed your day...
look forward to Coventry..we will have to sort out a meet at the next event.
Saturday morning was a busy time...great experience talking to the guests each one of them pleasant..and allowed time for pictures with them.

posted 05-11-2003 03:38 PM               

Andrew, didn't really speak to you but you were slightly ahead of us in the Al Worden queue I was the guy who handed the bit of padding for your CSM model back that you left on Al's table!

Nice to see the Wood family again as always, Frederic Janik, Nick, Phil Graham, the Shayler bros and their team, Rex Hall, oh and of course the astronaut/cosmonaut guests.
Gentlemen all.

And of course last, but not least, great to meet Al H. after many years of communicating via keyboard. What a guy!

Thanks to Garry and Dave and the Autographica team for putting the whole thing on so successfully again. Roll on Coventry!

Best regards to all

posted 05-11-2003 04:16 PM               

You should`nt be too shy...
A big thanks Steve for returning my CSM`s packing...too many parcels and not enough hands...you should have said who you were!!
it was a bit hectic getting my stuff signed and making Millvina Deans table...for the wife.
I must admit I was taken back..I had to go and say hello to ms Dean...a delightful and pleasant lady...
Spaceman..that was me, Millie,and Jackie..
I didnt know that was you..but I will know next time..You were a bit away from the action where you where placed!!
we will all have to arrange a meet next time..
I`m glad you all enjoyed the show...and Ian I`m skint too..glad you had a good day..Al, Ed,Paul and cosmonauts were excellent with the kids...must thank them for that.

Best wishes to you all,

posted 05-11-2003 04:50 PM               

I would love to post about Autographica along with the others but I am absolutely shattered. We have been home just a short while and are planning to go bed but I could not resist a quick look at the messages.

Great time. Will chat further tomorrow.

Best wishes to all.

posted 05-11-2003 06:37 PM               

No the plane didnt go down int he Atlantic. <G> Theres just no real online access here - I did bring my laptop but - well long story. So anyway this will be short.

First, let me send out a HUGE tip of the mad props beanie to Garry King and his staff. What a fantastic operation they have. It's worth a trip over the pond believe me.

Met lots and LOTS of list and collectSpace folks - so many I hestitate to start listing names as I know Id forget a ton of them. Not a bad one in the lot! <G> A true pleasure to meet one and all.

Al did very well at the signing, and will probably return. Well, more than probably. ;-) My first opportunity to meet Ed Gibson and he was super. Paul Weitz and I rekindled our friendship, he is a fantastic guy. Each night went to dinner with them and Yuri Usachev and Viktor Gorbatko. Spent a lot of time with Yuri and what a fantastic guy he is. I hope we became close, did share a large "bottle" Saturday night and did lots of gift giving and hugs. Exchanged emails and addresses.

Al had signed pictures for Yuri (he asked me if Al would) and Viktor, and the 2 cosmonauts were very emtional about it, and signed nice photos back for them. Viktor I believe, wrote a book and of course in Cyrillic. So I shall copy and send to poor Rex our interpreter. <G> Also accompanying the Cosmonauts was Elena - who is with the museum in Star City and acts as interpreter (although Yuri speaks very good English).

Tippi Hedron was there, and wait till I share THAT story. Not a very nice lady.

Of course the highlight of the trip was FINALLY meeting my dear friend Rex Hall in person. Thank you Rex, AND your beautiful wife Lynn, for all your help. You're every bit what I expected and much more.

I'll write more later, we meet list member John Masters tomorrow around 9:30 - 10:00AM for our London tour and will fly back Tuesday.

Spent some time with Nolan Sims, a favorite of mine. Steve, I promised i'd keep an eye on him, he's fine and will be back in time to help in DC. <G> After our discussions Im more jealous than ever I cant make it to DC. Maybe a miracle will happen.

Thats all the news from ships at sea tonight folks!

Cheers,

posted 05-12-2003 04:33 AM               

I'd echo everyone's comments above. Al Worden's a great guy, he reminisced over the copy of his old kid's book that I'd bought in for him to sign, then reminisced over the moon globe I'd bought in, then talked cameras with fellow collectSPACEr Rick Mulheirn. I'd only been expecting and a signature!

In his talk on Sunday he gave some interesting personal insights into his feelings about the crew and mission. As has been hinted at previously he's not a Dave Scott fan, but still holds Scott's professional abilities as an astronaut in the highest regard.

The real unexpected bonus of the day came when I turned up for Paul Weitz's lecture on the first flight of Challenger. There was only one other taker (I gather most people went to his Saturday Skylab lecture) but Paul said he was still game if we were. So myself and a guy called Mark ('hi' if you're reading) got to spend an hour chatting with Paul Weitz. He ran through his Challenger slides in about 15 mins, then pulled up a chair and talked about everything from the early days of Apollo through to the future of the shuttle fleet. A very enjoyable hour.

Thanks to the organizers, looking forward to next year.

posted 05-12-2003 05:20 PM               

What a great weekend and very busy with all the lectures and speaking to all our friends and making new ones. Those of us staying in the hotel talked about space into the early hours of the following mornings. I averaged only 3 to 4 hours sleep a night over the 3 nights I was there. But it was certainly worth it.

Hi Andrew. Jill and I were also at Colonel Worden's lecture. We were on the front row. Sorry we missed you. With one lecture after another on Saturday I did not spend a lot of time in the main area of the show. A short period in the morning and about an hour in the afternoon. I saw several people I knew but was only able to say a few words in passing.

Derek. I remember seeing one CS T-shirt but did not get a chance to speak. I wonder if that was you? I do remember some talk about the vomit comet before Nick posted it here so I must have been close. Andrew suggested sorting out a proper meeting next time. The times of the lectures are only sorted out at the event so it may be difficult to make advance plans for this. However, a few ideas come to mind.

1. We all buy CS T-shirts [I am sure Robert will be pleased with the extra business]. This should help us spot each other.

2. We ask the hotel to announce all CS members to a particular point to meet up. I vote for the bar but perhaps a more sensible idea would be where the astronauts are signing. For some strange reason some of us do not stray far from this room except to the lecture area. Perhaps we could do this sometime in the afternoon when there are no lectures taking place.

Hello Ian. It was good to talk and put a face to a name. Hopefully we will meet again soon as we live fairly close.

Steve. Thank you for your kind words. Hopefully we will have more time to chat next time.

Al. It was great to meet you and I am sure I speak for all of us in the UK in saying thank you for helping to bring Colonel Worden across to meet us. Good news that he is likely to return and I hope you will be returning soon as well. I am still laughing about the dinner stories involving Tippi H and to think I nearly got her autograph because Hitchcock's The Birds is such an excellent film. I am glad I kept my money in my pocket.

You are correct about the astronauts and cosmonauts. They were all kind, courteous and very happy to talk space. General Gorbatko put a lot of detail on the photographs he signed for a lot of us. They were details of his flights and to which Salyut he visited and he also added the date of signing.

Best wishes to all those I met. Too numerous to mention.

posted 05-13-2003 11:03 PM               

That was you with the collectSpace T shirt UNDER the jacket, right?

Best,

posted 05-14-2003 10:27 AM               

I'm back in Helsinki and just wanted to say to everyone how nice it was to meet all of you.
The two Als were great (each one of them a legend in his own way ), the cosmonauts were as usual very friendly and relaxed, the Skylab astros available and courteous and the Astronauts list and Collectspace people always eager to exchange space stories even in the early hours of the morning.

The rest of the guests were very nice as well (except for Tippi H.)

Hoping to see you all soon again

Frederic Janik

posted 05-14-2003 11:41 AM            

By the way, are you the same Matt who does Matts Celebrity Hangout site? If so then you've helped me with a few addys over the last year or so by email, thanks for that. Had no idea you were in same lecture lol. Everyone needs a tshirt with names on next time. We're all too shy lol.
As you know there was a smallish number of us there for that one because it was Al's 2nd, and theres at least 3 of us on these boards now lol. Glad you had a great time too. I was just saying in a post to Robert who was also in our lecture that the lectures really added something this year. Its great to have the guests there at all of course, but to have them giving a talk for an hour is just brilliant. Really adds to the memories of the weekend.

And OK, whats all the stuff about Tippi Hedren? Spill the beans folks.

I met her on the Sunday morning and she was great with me. Really nice, we chatted about her Roar Foundation etc. Had pic taken with her and bought a signed pic, and she even added a bit extra that I asked for after her autograph. Of course she has that Hollywood actress kinda vibe but I always tread carefully when meeting any stars like that. It's safer that way lol. Egos and planet sizes come to mind lol. But like I said, she was great with me, talkative, friendly. Even got up and got me a booklet on her animal sanctuary for me to have. Am I the only one who had a good experience with her lol?

Unusual if she was bad with other people because as we all know, Garry and the Autographica team have a policy of only trying to invite guests who have a reputation for being friendly with fans. I mean, who needs the hassle of those stars who go to shows but aren't friendly. I wouldn't want to meet a guest like that. Never had a bad experience with a guest at Autographica, so just curious what went down that I didn't see.

Anyway, glad everyone had such a cool time with the astronauts and cosmonauts. All this collecting can add up money-wise at a show, but totally worth it when have such a great weekend and such cool memories. Al was so brilliant. Can't praise him enough. Great and natural at the talk, then chatted to him after the lecture as we walked down hallway near bar, and had a good chat again when got autograph later. What a nice guy. And Yuri on Sat was so great too. Great talk - even with the slide projector problem. In fact he carried on with the Q and A so it was great. And so nice to talk to later. They seemed like they were having as much fun meeting all us as we were meeting them which was nice. Yuri seemed very touched that people knew about his career and wanted to meet him.

Very impressed by everything. You know I bet a lot of us UK and Euro space collectors are still pinching ourselves that we're getting people like this coming over. I know I am. Can't wait till next one.

And thanks to Garry King and Autographica for doing such a great job.

posted 05-14-2003 07:41 PM               

Over to you Al????????????????????

Just got home from London. Had another very enjoyable evening with Yuri Usachev, Rex, Ollie and others at the British Interplanetary Society's HQ in London. I hope Yuri comes back soon he has been brilliant.

Best wishes

posted 05-15-2003 04:02 PM               

Id be very suprised if she came back - I feel very badly for Garry's excellent staff.